


Helpless

by Silver_Nebula



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, Battle, Character Development, Emotions, Family Angst, Feelings, Gen, Out of Character, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 06:57:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17462765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Nebula/pseuds/Silver_Nebula
Summary: Niles was never a man who let the world know about his feelings. But with his marriage to Camilla and the birth of his daughter Nina, things started to change.Unfortunately, of all things it was a battle were Niles learnt what it means to love something that death can touch.





	Helpless

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Ho!  
> I created this one shot in honour of the things I love - Caminiles, Angst, and Niles' and Nina's father-daughter relationship! I really wanted to write something about this awesome couple and their sassy child, and the only thing that came to my mind was drama, of course xD  
> So, I hope you like it as much as I do,  
> love and ladybug,  
> Silver
> 
> PS: Inessa is my own Fire Emblem OC and she is actually a character with a larger backstory, but in this story, she just appears in a few sentences bc I really wanted her to be in this story as well. And yep, I paired her up with Laslow, bc I love him xD Now, Silver over and out!

Helpless 

Niles was never a man who let the world know about his feelings. He had to learn the hard way that feelings are bad, and that emotions just give others the chance to manipulate and to use you. Therefore, he closed these feelings up inside and hid them behind his sarcastic and cocky demeanour. He was well aware that this behaviour was irritating to many, and that it resulted in the fact that many couldn’t stand him. Yet he didn’t really care, no, he even wanted that people avoided him. Less friends and people he cared about meant that he had fewer things that he could lose, fewer things that could be held against him.  
However, with his marriage to the oldest Princess of Nohr and the birth of his daughter Nina, things started to change. Being with Camilla changed him, and he realised that he was different when he was around her. Don’t get fooled, he still pulled incredibly tasteless lines and loved to teaser her, but more often he was calm, and honest, a side of him that only Camilla really got to see. Then, Nina was born and with her arrived something that Niles never imagined having – somebody other than himself that he wanted to fight for and protect.  
His wife did not need anyone to protect her, and he knew that very well. She was nobody to fool with, on the contrary, she was a deadly warrior that could strike you down with a single swing of her silver axe. Nina was different. When she came into this world, she was so small and helpless, and from the moment he first saw her, Niles knew that she was the single most important person on this planet to him. Considering his background and childhood in the Nohrian slums, however, Niles never learnt how to behave as a father. As somebody who never experienced parental love in his life, he felt utterly helpless when being confronted with his daughter, who, unfortunately, had inherited parts of his cocky behaviour. It would have taken him years to get used to being a… caring parent. Years he didn’t have, considering that time passed differently in the deep realms.  
After months of fighting, Niles and Nina finally accepted that they - indeed – cared for each other (in a very twisted way) and wanted to support each other, a fact that especially Camilla seemed to appreciate a lot. At first, Nina didn’t want to listen, but sooner or later she had to, considering that Niles did not intend to give up. Then, finally, she had acknowledged and accepted his apology and from then on, things started to change. They changed very slowly, but at least they changed. Niles knew that he could count on his daughter, even when she pretended to be hostile against him, and that she had developed into a skilled archer with an impeccable observation skill (and a weird hobby but who was he to actually judge). He trusted her and knew that she was an important part of Lady Corrin’s army. What Niles often tend to forget, however, was that she was only a child lacking fighting experience, and that she was vulnerable.  
All these facts shot back into his mind when he was in the middle of a battle against a part of the Vallite army. The moment he heard a piercing scream behind him that he would never be able to erase from his mind again, he knew that something was terribly wrong. When he turned around to see what happened, he stared into his daughter’s blue eyes which were wide open with surprise and panic. Three arrows had buried themselves into her stomach and upper body, draining the colour from her face and the life from her body.  
“Nina!” Niles screamed in terror, pulled another arrow from his quiver and started to sprint towards his daughter who already sunk to her knees, a shaking hand around one of the arrows that were stuck in her body. On his way to her, he managed to strike down a lance cavalier and sword fighter who tried to take advantage of Nina’s wounds, and only meters behind her he spotted the archer that had shot her. Needless to say, this one didn’t get that far.  
When reaching his daughter, Niles got quickly on his knees, his bow still in his hand, ready to defend the two. Quickly, he scanned Nina’s body and knew that he did not have a lot of time to get her into the infirmary to a healer. Unfortunately, he was for once not very good at hiding his fear, since Nina’s panic started to rise.  
“Dad… Dad I didn’t see him”, she sobbed quietly, her hands still pressed to her stomach. A larger blood stain had started to spread underneath them, staining the white of her dress. Niles clenched his teeth and forced himself to remain calm, knowing that it would only harm Nina more when he lost his cool in this moment.  
“Shh, don’t strain yourself”, he said calmly and quickly put his bow behind his back. Simultaneously, he pulled out one of his daggers from his belt and laid it next to him on the grass, just in case. “It’s going to be alright. I am going to get you out of here”, he said and placed his hands underneath her head and knees. The moment he lifted her up, Nina made a terrible, pain-streaked noise. Niles froze and tried to reposition his daughter in such a way that she wouldn’t feel her injuries with every step he took.  
“Dad, it hurts”, he managed to say in such a miserable tone that broke his heart.  
“I know, Nina, I know. But you are stronger than you think, it’s going to be okay, I promise. I just need you to remain conscious for now, alright? Can you do that?”, he asked and got a tiny nod. “Perfect. I will have to run now, it will hurt, but as soon as we reach the healers, the pain will stop. Okay?” he asked, Nina nodded again.  
“Dad… I am sorry”, she finally whispered with tears streaming down her face.  
“Don’t be. That could happen to the best of us. I’m no one to talk, I even lost a fuckin’ eye”, he joked and forced his typical smile. At the same time, he scanned his surroundings and noticed one of the Vallite servants making his way towards them.  
“Not what I mean…”, Nina coughed. “I was so terrible to you… And if I die now…”, she cried, Niles interrupted her.  
“You won’t die. I won’t allow it”, he said and stood up.  
“But… I didn’t mean it. I… was… sad… that you were gone for so long… but I know now… Why. I’m sorry… Dad.” Niles swallowed hard and forced another smile.  
“Oh I knew you loved me. How could you not?” he said in his usual smug tone, but it was obvious that he didn’t managed to pull it through. The attitude behind his words was gone, and instead, one could hear the fear that spread through his mind. However, it made Nina smile through her pain, and that was enough at this moment. The problem was, yet, that he was so focused on his daughter and his mission to safe her that he completely forgot about the servant who suddenly jumped into his way.  
A single “fuck” slipped out of Niles’ mouth. In a split second, he realised that he would not be able to draw his bow with Nina in his arms, and the dagger which now rested in Nina’s lap did not help either since he would have to lay her down first, for which he wouldn’t have the time. The only idea Niles had to protect his daughter was to turn his back to the servant and shield her with his body. Admittedly, this was a very stupid idea since if he’s hurt, who’s gonna save his daughter? But at this moment, he didn’t think about the consequences, the only thing he thought about was to save Nina. His daughter made a surprised noise when he pressed her a little tighter against his chest and he just waited to feel the impact of a thrown dagger.  
Before the servant’s weapon could reach the archer, however, a single lightning bolt threw the enemy off his feet and catapulted him multiple feet away from father and daughter. Niles looked up from Nina, whose breath started to rattle while more tears found their way down her cheeks, and stared at Lady Corrin’s retainer. Inessa stood back to back with Lord Xander’s retainer who seemed to protect her blind side.  
“Get her out of there”, she yelled while Laslow stroke down another enemy who tried to attack them. “I fight them off for you, now run!”, she shouted again and casted another spell that hit a Vallite enemy behind Niles.  
Without a sassy remark about not needing another one’s help, he did what he was told, which was rare, and started to run. Nina in his arms made a miserable sound, which he tried to ignore as best as he can. Afterwards, however, his daughter became silent and he realised that she had finally lost her consciousness. If he didn’t get her to a healer as soon as possible now, it would be too late. He clenched his teeth harder and ran faster. Inessa managed to keep her promise and cleared a path for them, and after what felt like an eternity, he finally managed to get off the battlefield. 

-~-~-~-~

In the infirmary, Lady Elise and Lady Sakura immediately started to tend to Nina. The moment Niles had laid her on one of the tables, they flocked around her and ushered the archer to get out. Which he ignored, he had listened to more people than he usually did, now his patience was gone and he insisted on staying. He watched motionlessly how the two healers removed the arrows and healed and bandaged the wounds of his daughter.  
After the biggest wounds were closed, Elise turned around and looked at her brother’s retainer with a tired yet usual big smile.  
“She’s going to be okay. We just need to make sure that she is not moved that much in the next hours, the deep wounds are still slowly healing”, she said, Niles nodded. Before Elise could leave them alone in order to tend to Kaden’s injuries, who just entered the infirmary, Niles turned around to his wife’s sister and let out a deep breath that he had held forever until then.  
“…Thank you”, he said and stared at Elise who started to smile even brighter.  
“No problem. That’s what I’m here for, and I’m glad to help”, she answered and ran to her next patient.  
Slowly, Niles went to Nina’s bed and sat down next to it. His daughter was lying there, so small and quiet, which was so different to her usual cocky attitude that she had also inherited from him. The wounds that the arrows left in her body were bandaged and slowly healing, yet it was obvious that she would have to deal with them for quite some time after waking up. Considering that the arrows have only missed her heart by a few inches, Nina was actually lucky to still be alive. Only thinking about the fact that Niles could have lost his daughter forever left him with an empty feeling in his stomach, and he felt a cold shiver running down his spine.  
This was all so… weird. Having feelings, caring for others… it was so unlike himself. Normally he would still be on the battlefield, looking for survivors or helping Lord Leo to check on the wounded, but he knew that the only right thing he could do in this moment was to be here and wait. And he accepted the fact that he needed to be there for his daughter instead of running off like he did in the past months, which had lasted way longer in the deep realms.  
Looking at Nina with an anxious expression, he stared at her pale features and bit his lip. He could only imagine what Camilla would say right now. Luckily, he didn’t have to think about it for longer than a minute, since his wife rushed into the infirmary only moments later. Looking at her worried features, it was clear that somebody had already told her and that she was looking for Nina. The moment she made eye contact with her husband, she hurried towards him and clasped her hands before her mouth when she saw their daughter.  
“Oh Gods… By all dragons, my baby girl”, she whispered and stepped forward to take one of Nina’s hands. “Oh Gods who did that to you? Niles!” she said and looked at him sharply. “Who did this to our child?!” Her expression was worried beyond recognition, but her voice sounded steady. Niles knew that Camilla’s real feelings were even more intense than her looks, but considering that she was the oldest sister of the Nohrian royals and that her people were looking up to and depending on her, she mastered this calm appearance and way of speaking years ago. Niles looked at her for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.  
“A Vallite archer. I have already dealt with him”, he said, which surprisingly did not seem to please his wife. On the contrary, she seemed to get… angry.  
“Wait. So you tell me that you were near her when that happened? You tell me that you could have protected her but failed?”, she said with suppressed anger in her voice. “You tell me that you did not protect my baby and saved yourself instead, Niles?” she glared at him, which made him furious. How could she even think of such garbage accusations!  
“What the hell, princess!”, he said louder than he had intended it to be. “You really think that I like seeing her like that? How could you even think that I would abandon her and save myself instead! Do you really think that I would not do anything that I can to protect the people that I love? Do you seriously think that I would REALLY let my own daughter live through something that could have cost her life? Do you actually know me?!”, he snapped and glared back at Camilla whose expression had changed the moment he started speaking. “I would give my own damned life if that means to protect her and keep her safe. So don’t you ever dare to say something like that again, princess!” He could see how Elise had stopped her work from the other side of the infirmary and looked at her sisters back with a worried expression. Yet, she did not approach the two but quickly returned to her work.  
Camilla, on the other hand, now looked as if she just woke up from a nightmare. She blinked twice, then ran a hand through her hair and brushed her bangs out of her face so that she could look at Niles and Nina with both eyes.  
“You are right… you are right. I am sorry, darling”, she said, and her shoulders sank. Her entire posture seemed to crumble in front of him when she looked from her daughter to her husband. Tears had started to build up in her eyes, but she stubbornly blinked them away. “I am so sorry, I should not have said that. It’s just… I am so worried”, she said, and he could hear that her voice was breaking.  
His will to fight died down in an instant and he let out a deep breath. He hated to be that out of character, all these emotions and feelings he felt did not feel familiar to him. He hated to be so out of control over himself and so… helpless.  
Instead of saying something, he moved closer to the bed and reached over Nina so slightly touch Camilla’s hand. He didn’t know what to say, he was no one who could comfort people, so he just tried to do… something at least.  
“Is she going to be okay?” Camilla asked after a while and looked back at Niles. He nodded and felt a smile creep on to his face.  
“Of course. You know her, she’s tough as nails, she isn’t that easily killed. I mean with us as parents.” Camilla smiled a little bit, then sighed and stood up to take a seat next to him.  
“You are right. And I am glad you already dealt with that bastard, otherwise I would have had to find him for a little play”, she said and smiled sweetly before reaching out for Nina’s hand again. 

-~-~-~

Nina had felt terrible before. Countless times, when she still entered rich people’s mansions to steal from them, she had been hurt and wounded. Sometimes, she had even spent nights alone in the cold with rain pouring down on her, desperately trying to find a shelter. However, she had accepted this life style when she had decided to spend her life fighting and dedicated it to the noble cause. Nina knew that this decision was connected to a lot of pain and sacrifice, and she had thought that she was prepared for it. Yet never before had she felt so miserable as in this moment, and the pain that pierced her body reminded her again how vulnerable and weak she still was.  
The moment she had regained consciousness, she felt the pain that immediately reminded her of what exactly had happened to her. She could feel where the arrows of the enemy had pierced her body, and she felt, to keep it short, like absolute garbage.  
With a small grunt, she slowly opened her eyes and stared at the dimly lit ceiling, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the lighting in the infirmary. Slowly, she tried to steady her breathing and ignore the pain that every little movement caused her. After a while of slow breathing and calming down, she heard a small sigh next to her, and out of curiosity, she carefully turned her head to look at the source of the sound. Yet, what she saw in front of her surprised her.  
Next to the bed in which she was lying sat her parents, both asleep. Her father was closer to her, with his arms crossed in front of his body and his head being tilted forward so that his chin was resting on his chest. His expression was relaxed, however, his breathing was faster than the one of Nina’s mother next to him. The longer Nina looked at him, the better she could see that he must have skipped the healer’s treatment completely, considering that he had a lazily bandaged wound on his upper arm which had bled through the bandages and the bruises that had formed under his lost eye and arms. Next to him was Camilla, who had her head rested on Niles’ shoulder, her hair covering large parts of her face. Also Camilla had smaller bruises and scratches on her face that were not healed yet, and parts of her armour and clothing were ripped and damaged. The skin around her uncovered eye appeared red, almost as if she had cried, which Nina knew could not have been the case. Her mother never cried, she was too calm, too proud for that. Yet, Nina could not explain the redness other than that, and she also couldn’t imagine why she would have cried. However, considering that she held one of Nina’s hands in both of hers and had seemingly rushed to her daughter’s bed without even healing herself before made it kind of obvious why she would have felt this way.  
The longer Nina looked at both of her parents next to her, the more she realised how stupid she had behaved when coming from the deep realms into this world. Well, deep down she had always known that her parents cared for her, yet looking at how they both had abandoned her when she was still so young blinded Nina’s judgement. The longest time she avoided to talk to her father and mother, and she was always sure about the fact that she would never be able to forgive them. When she was ten, she saw them for the last time before they disappeared without a warning, now, eight years later, they appeared again and wanted her to act as if nothing happened. Growing up with the other children in the deep realms, Nina knew that the grown-ups did not always have time for them since they fought a war to protect their and their children’s future, but seeing how sometimes, some parents came back to spend some time with their offspring hurt her. Nobody ever came back for her, and even though the other adults comforted her by telling that both Camilla and Niles were busy fighting, Nina felt more and more miserable over time. It took her longer than she wanted it to admit to get over the fact that she was alone, but once she knew it for sure, her decision of standing on her own feet and changing her life on her own was made. For her, these eight years were a long time, a time where she had to grow up quickly and without the help or presence of her parents. Yet for them, on the other hand, those eight years were only the timespan of a few weeks, considering that the time in the real world and the realms passed differently. And now, being in this real world, she understood that sometimes, all of these battles and war councils took some time and prevented them from visiting her. At first, when her parents told her how sorry they were, she didn’t want to listen. For her, all of their words were lies, lies that they made up in order to manipulate her.  
But now, being in this world and fighting those battles herself, Nina slowly started to understand why neither her mother nor her father wanted her to be with them at this point in time. After losing almost both of them on a single day, she also understood why her father told her that he wanted her to live a normal, safe life without the need to steal and fight. The longer she looked at them, knowing that they cared so much for her that they even abandoned their own treatment just to be with her, made her more emotional than she wanted to admit. Both her parents and Nina seemed to have learnt out of the things that had happened in the past, and it appeared as if her mother and father really tried to change and make up for the time they had lost. Considering that Nina had almost lost her life, that she almost lost everything that she had, she decided to allow herself to be emotional for once, and she also allowed herself to cry.  
With her free hand, she slowly covered her mouth, trying to stifle down the quiet sob that had escaped her mouth. However, the sob was loud enough to wake her father, who first looked at his wife before turning his head to his daughter. Seeing that she was crying, his eyes widened and he sat up a little straighter, making sure that he wouldn’t wake up Camilla.  
“Nina! You are awake”, he said, quietly. “Do you want me to get Lady Elise?” he asked, she managed to shake her head.  
“I’m not crying because it hurts. Actually, I feel… okay”, she answered as quiet as her father, making Niles raise an eyebrow.  
“Stop being the tough one, kid”, he said, Nina rolled her eyes which made him smile.  
“I didn’t say that I feel good, okay? It’s survivable”, she said while wiping off the tears on her cheeks.  
“I understand”, Niles answered, still looking at her, hesitating. “Listen…”, he started, Nina interrupted him.  
“I know, I was careless. I should have been smarter, I totally get it. I will be more careful next time”, she said, Niles just shook his head.  
“That’s not what I wanted to say”, he answered and looked at her, no mocking smile on his lips, showing her that he was completely earnest right now. “I am glad that you are okay. I actually was… worried sick”, he said, which made Nina swallow. She had actually never seen that much honesty with him up until this point.  
“I… was afraid”, Nina finally answered, resting her free hand next to her. “I was so afraid of dying. I didn’t want to lose everything I had. I didn’t want to lose my friends, and mom, and… and you”, she said quietly while her cheeks started to turn red.  
Niles smiled again an honest smile and nodded quickly.  
“I can’t promise you that you will never have to fear this loss again. But I swear I will try to keep you save as best as I can”, he said, and Nina did something that she never thought she would do. She accepted.  
“Thanks, Dad”, she murmured and stifled a yawn, realising how tiring this conversation was for her.  
“Of course, Nina. And now rest a little bit, healing wounds of that calibre is exhausting”, Niles answered. And with that, Nina closed her eyes to sleep, knowing that when she would open them again, both Camilla and Niles would still be there. And that was all she wanted.


End file.
